Talking about peace

Peace Jam holds event in Cassopolis

Peace Jam holds event in Cassopolis

March 02, 2006|DAWN FRASIEUR Tribune Correspondent

CASSOPOLIS -- Ross Beatty High School was jammin'. The Cassopolis Jazz Band kicked off the local Peace Jam fundraiser. A drum circle that turned everyone present into musicians ended it. In between, though, some serious topics were addressed, including AIDS awareness and peace issues far from home. Peace Jam is an international education program designed to connect Nobel Peace Laureates with young people. The goal of the movement is a simple one, according to event organizer Nick Bosler, 17, a student at Ross Beatty. "We're creating teen peacemakers," he said. Peace Jam members are encouraged to be activists in their communities and in the world around them. Currently, the local club has two orientations, both tied into their experience with the Nobel Laureates. "We recently went to a conference and got to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu," Bosler said. "He's working on AIDS prevention, and we were intrigued and moved by what he had to say." At the regional seminar, some of the local club members worked on squares to be added to the national AIDS quilt. The squares are traveling locally, and about a half-dozen decorated the auditorium recently. Tutu got the students thinking about the devastating effect AIDS has had on Africa. For the recent gathering, however, Cole Williams was asked to bring the issue home. Williams, a Benton Harbor resident, works for CARES (Community AIDS Resource Education Services), a state-sponsored organization. He does school assemblies and visits prisons, but he also just walks the streets, spreading information about AIDS and urging those he meets to get tested. "People don't want to hear about HIV. Why?" he asked. "Because of fear." Williams described how HIV is contracted (and how it is not) and exactly how HIV works in the body. The symptoms, he said, including things like sore throats and diarrhea, feel normal. "You don't automatically think, 'I must have HIV,' " he said. His main message: Testing is critical. Williams even demonstrated how the test is done -- a simple swab of the mouth, not the invasive procedure some picture -- and its anonymity. Williams gave an even stronger message before ending, however. Reminding those present that "Magic Johnson is not cured" and must take over two dozen pills a day ("and they're big ones"), he said there is a cure for AIDS -- abstinence. Bringing a global message home is a goal for Peace Jam club members. "It's cool to know people are working really hard to do the same things in the world that we're trying to do in our little community," Elizabeth Slaski, 17, told the audience. Despite the serious nature of the AIDS message, it really was a day for celebration of the arts. Williams is himself a "spoken word poet" and shared two of his original poems with the audience. He also was a full participant in a drum circle led by Jacquee Dickey of South Bend (representing Sounds of Solsenete), who brought enough African, South American and Native American drums with her to involve everyone in the making of music. At their own club meetings, Peace Jam members tackle serious subjects. "It's educational to be able to discuss and to learn things going on in the world," said Diamond Walker, 17. "You can also give your opinion on it. (Peace Jam) is a place you can really be heard." Currently, the teens are studying East Timor in anticipation of an upcoming seminar they'll attend to meet with Jose Ramos-Horta, co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize and foreign affairs minister of the country. He fought to liberate East Timor from Indonesian occupation for 24 years. According to reports, 200,000 of the country's 700,000 citizens died in the first four years of its occupation. When Indonesia pulled out in 1999, disgruntled troops were said to have destroyed about three-quarters of the remaining infrastructure, including schools and government buildings. Ramos-Horta, who continues to advocate against any kind of revenge or bitterness, lost three brothers and a sister in the occupation. Adult moderator Ruth Andrews leads the study, the same one being pursued by clubs all over the country, she said. Andrews started the local Peace Jam group at her church, United Presbyterian, Cassopolis, after she heard about the movement, researched it and received sponsor training. "People are always talking about terrorist cells," she said. "We're like little cells for peace." The recent fundraiser was designed to raise money for a club trip to the National Peace Jam conference in Colorado later this year. Andrews said up to 14 Nobel Laureates will be present, "depending on the current situations in their countries."